When pledging Phi Delta Theta his sophomore year, junior Mike Irene, along with his pledge brothers, went through a 12-week new member education process. Each week there were make it or break it tests and loads of information to memorize that defined their stance in the fraternity. With the stresses of keeping up good grades, following through with their pledging duties, and balancing the rest of their extracurricular activities, studying and acing these new member tests did not come easy.
After viewing a presentation on an app called CourseMob, which is used to assist in studying for UCF classes, Irene had the idea to create a similar app that was geared towards fraternity’s new member education process. Every chapter in the Interfraternity Council, and eventually every Panhellenic chapter, would be featured on the app.
Q: What is your major?
A: Business Management with a track in Entrepreneurship.
Q: Where are you from?
A: Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Q: What made you want to pursue Greek Guide?
A: What made me want to pursue Greek Guide is the amount of appreciation and love I have for the new member education process. It plays the biggest role on an individual’s future, so I wanted to try to better it in any form. This focuses on their education, which is essential to their process.Â
Q: What do you think will make Greek Guide successful?
A: I think the biggest thing that will make Greek Guide successful is backing we receive from the fraternities who love the concept and want to see the new members excel with such a study resource that can help them learn better and more effectively.Â
Q: Do you have a team to help you with this business?
A: I have a great team that is the reason for our success due to their knowledge within the Greek Community as well. Jared Givens from Delta Upsilon has been my right-hand man in helping get Greek Guide off the ground from its beginnings, and our friends over at CourseMob have also been key to our success.Â
Q: How did you get this idea?
A: I got the idea after watching a presentation from Ace Glenn at CourseMob and loved the idea of a more effective learning method. I spent the next couple of months working on it to aim it towards Greek Life and the new member process where it could really make a difference.Â
Q: How is the app organized?
A: The mobile app is organized by fraternity, and within each fraternity we break it down by teaching them different sections each week, like the Greek alphabet, founding history, important dates, current information and more. We work with fraternities to adjust it to what they actually are teaching the new members at the time, so it benefits both new members and the fraternity better.Â
Q: Is the app free?
A: We’ve made the app free so anyone can download it and check it out to see how it works and even play with it. The actual material for each fraternity is locked and is sold to each individual for $15.Â
Q: What is your ultimate goal in life?
A: My ultimate goal in life is to leave a positive impact on the world in any way. Greek Life has taught me so much and given me everything, so to be able to give back to that community would mean the world to me and accomplish my goal.Â
Q: Where do you see yourself after you graduate?
A: After I graduate I plan on staying in Orlando and continuing to further my education as well as my entrepreneurial endeavors in hopes of becoming successful with the Greek Guide and more.